


Camping

by camwolfe



Series: The Water Can't Drown Me [8]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 21:54:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3463421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camwolfe/pseuds/camwolfe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They go camping. Steve loves it, Bucky doesn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Camping

**Author's Note:**

> BY POPULAR DEMAND, THERE IS NO ANGST TAG BECAUSE THERE IS NO ANGST IN THIS (except for some mild complaining).
> 
> This is pretty short but I'm trying to get back in the swing of things so please forgive me

“No.”

“Come on,” Steve said with a frown. “How else are we going to cook dinner?”

“We’ll figure something out,” Bucky said. “We don’t need a two hundred dollar camp stove.”

Steve sadly set the large box back on the shelf. “Fine. But we definitely need the two-room tent, not the one room.”

“No,” Bucky said again. “We also don’t need a tent with two goddamn rooms.”

Steve sighed. “You know, Bucky, it’s almost like you don’t w _ant_ to go camping.”

“I don’t… not want to go,” Bucky hedged as he followed Steve through the aisles.

“You’ll see,” Steve said firmly. He tossed another box of granola bars into the cart that Bucky was pushing. “You’ll love it. It’s so much fun.”

“You said you haven’t been camping since you were fourteen,” Bucky said. He put his foot on the bottom rack of the cart and pushed off, gently bumping the cart into Steve. “Are you sure it’s still going to be fun now that you’re older?”

“Yes,” Steve said. He pushed the cart backwards, sending Bucky rolling down the aisle. “It’s going to be great.”

“Ugh,” Bucky said.

 

“Camping!” Winifred said delightedly. “That’s such a lovely idea!”

“I think it’ll be really fun,” Steve said.

“Can we come?” Grace asked.

Bucky groaned. He was deeply regretting showing up to Wednesday night dinner at his mother’s house already.

“Yeah!” Ethan said eagerly. “Please, Mom? Can we go with them instead of to Aunt Barbara’s house this weekend?”

Winifred hesitated. “Ethan…”

“Please,” Grace said desperately. “Please, please, please.”

Bucky didn’t really blame them. Aunt Barbara was a nice woman, but she didn’t believe in the use of electronics or processed food. She also, for some reason, owned seven guinea pigs.

“They can come if they want,” Steve told Winifred. “We wouldn’t mind having them along.”

Bucky kicked him under the table. Steve ignored him.

“Yes!” Ethan shouted. “Mom, Steve said we could go.”

Winifred gave Bucky and Steve a look. “You’re sure you don’t mind?”

“Of course not,” Steve said.

Rebecca folded her arms. “I don’t want to go.”

“Then don’t come,” Bucky told her.

Winifred sighed. “You know I’m travelling this weekend, Bec. I’m not letting you stay here by yourself.”

“But I don’t want to go to Aunt Barbara’s.”

“Then come camping with us!” Grace shouted, throwing her hands in the air. Several peas flew off her fork and onto the floor.

Rebecca scowled. “Fine.”

Bucky sighed. “This is your fault,” he said to Steve.

Steve shrugged. “It’ll be fun.”

 

“We do not need all this stuff.”

“You’ll see,” Steve said ominously. He tried to shut the trunk again. It refused to close.

“Okay, take the parkas out,” Bucky said. “It’s the middle of summer.”

“It’ll be cold at night!” Steve protested.

“Not cold enough for parkas!” Bucky said. “Besides, those sleeping bags you bought are good for the fucking Arctic.”

Steve was reluctantly pulling the coats out of the trunk when Bucky’s family drove up.

“Camping!” Grace shouted as she tumbled out of the car. “We’re going camping!”

“Got all your stuff?” Bucky asked her.

“Yep!” she said happily, pointing to the backpack neatly strapped to her back.

“Can I sit in the front seat?” Ethan asked as he too got out of the car.

“No,” Bucky told him. “Go throw your bag in the back, we’ve got to make it all fit somehow.”

Rebecca climbed out of the passenger’s side, still frowning.

“So you picked us over Aunt Barbara, huh?” Bucky said.

Rebecca scowled at him, and climbed into Steve’s car.

“Is Sergeant coming?” she called.

Sergeant heard his name, and came bounding out of the house. He jumped straight into the backseat of the car, landing right on top of the kids. He settled down across their laps, ignoring their protests.

“Does the dog have to come?” Steve asked.

“Steve,” Bucky said as he finished getting the last of the stuff in the trunk. “The dog is coming with us. The dog comes with us everywhere.”

“Steve, do you not like Sergeant?” Grace asked. Sergeant licked her face.

“Steve pretends he doesn’t like the dog,” Bucky told her as he got into the car. “But he really does.”

“How could anyone not like Sergeant,” Rebecca said.

Steve groaned. “I don’t… I don’t not like the dog! Bucky, stop making me look bad.”                                      

“Nah,” Bucky said. He propped his feet up on the dashboard and waved to his mom as she drove away.

Steve sighed and got into the driver’s seat.

“Camping!” Grace shouted.

Sergeant barked.

 

“Ethan, stop kicking my seat.”

Ethan kicked the back of Bucky’s set harder in retaliation. Bucky groaned.

“Are we almost there?” Rebecca asked. “I’m bored.”

“Sergeant is kind of heavy,” Grace said.

“Steve,” Bucky said desperately.

“We’re almost there!” Steve said. “Look, see that sign just up there? That’s the campground.”

“Thank god,” Bucky and Rebecca said at the same time.

 

“Okay,” Steve said a few minutes later, once they’d finally arrived and checked into the campground. “Everybody out.”

The kids leapt out of the car, nearly knocking each other over in the process. Sergeant scrambled after them, barking happily.

“Well,” Steve said happily as they got out of the car a little more sedately. “What do you think?”

“All right, I admit it’s a nice spot,” Bucky said. He glanced around the little campsite, nestled into the trees. A small stream ran down below.

“I told you,” Steve said. He started pulling supplies out of the trunk. “Okay, do we set up the tents first, or do we do the hike?”

“Tents first,” Bucky said. He helped Steve lift the bulky boxes and set them on the ground next to the fire pit.

“Can we set ours up on our own?” Ethan asked, scrambling back up the hill to the campsite. Rebecca and Grace were right behind him.

“Yes,” Bucky said. “Race you.”

All three kids shrieked and jumped on the box that held their little tent.

“Okay,” Steve said once he and Bucky had opened the box. “How do you set up a tent?”

Bucky stared at him. “What? I don’t know. I thought you knew.”

Steve shook his head. “I thought there’d be instructions or something.”

“It can’t be that hard,” Bucky said.

 

Ten minutes later, the tent was half in the box. The fabric was spread out all over the ground, and Steve had somehow managed to snap one of the poles in half. They’d spent five minutes duct-taping it back together.

“Done!” Rebecca shouted.

“What,” Bucky and Steve said at the same time.

Sure enough, the kids had set their tent up. They’d even started unrolling their sleeping bags inside.

Bucky sat back. “I’ll give you each five dollars if you set up our tent for us.”

“Bucky,” Steve protested as Ethan grabbed the tent poles out of his hand.

Bucky shrugged.

 

They finally got the car unloaded and both tents set up.

“Hiking?” Steve said hopefully.

Bucky sighed. “Hiking.”

It took another twenty minutes to get the kids ready to go. Grace had somehow lost one of her shoes, and Rebecca refused to leave until her hair was perfectly braided. Ethan had somehow spilled an entire can of Pepsi over his shirt.

“Okay,” Steve said, once they finally started walking. “This is going to be great, guys.”

“How far is it?” Rebecca asked. She was holding Sergeant’s leash, which meant that she was nearly jogging with each step as he surged ahead.

“It’s only two hours,” Steve said. “Even Bucky can walk for two hours without complaining.”

“Hey!” Bucky protested as the kids laughed. “I don’t complain _that_ much.”

“Uh huh,” Steve said. He ran ahead and turned around, taking a quick picture of the four of them with the giant camera he had hanging around his neck.

 

The hike took a little longer than two hours. They were slowed down by Steve trying to take a picture of every tree they passed, and Sergeant stopping to sniff every single plant.

Grace eventually started to trail behind. Bucky kept his eye on her, making sure that a mountain lion didn’t try and drag her away.

“Grace,” Bucky said after another fifteen minutes of slow walking. “What’s wrong?”

“My feet hurt.”

Bucky sighed. “Really? Or do you just want a piggy back ride?”

“They really hurt!” Grace said earnestly.

“All right,” Bucky said. Grace shrieked and jumped at him, scrambling onto his back.

“How come Grace gets a piggy-back ride?” Ethan said indignantly.

“Because she’s a lot smaller than you are,” Bucky said.

Ethan sighed, but allowed it.

“Steve,” Rebecca said. “You do know that plant is poison ivy, right?”

Steve yelped and jumped back, nearly dropping his camera.

“I think you’ve probably got enough artsy photos,” Bucky said.

“You can never have too many artsy photos,” Steve said. He held the camera up in an attempt to take a picture of the sky.

 

By the time they made it back to their little campsite, everyone was exhausted.

“I’m never moving again,” Rebecca announced. She collapsed into one of the folding camp chairs.

“Sergeant!” Grace said. “Sergeant, have some water!”

She held out his water bowl, giggling madly as he splashed water all over her in an attempt to get to it.

“I’m going to cut my feet off,” Ethan said. He kicked his shoes off, walking around the campsite in his sock feet. “They hurt too much.”

“Why is everyone in this family so dramatic?” Bucky asked.

“It was only a two hour walk!” Steve said. He reappeared from behind the car, carrying the large cooler.

“Is that food?” Bucky said hopefully, from where he too was sprawled in a camp chair.

“It’s food,” Steve confirmed. He opened the cooler and started tossing everyone sandwiches.

 

By the time everyone had eaten and rested for a while, Steve and Bucky managed to build a fire in the fire pit.

“Okay,” Bucky said. “There is only one rule for roasting these marshmallows. That rule is that NOBODY FALLS IN THE FIRE.”

“I don’t think anyone was planning on falling in the fire,” Steve said dryly as he held his marshmallow over the flames.

“I don’t care,” Bucky said. He gently pulled Ethan back when he started leaning too far forward. “We are too damn far away from the ER for someone to fall in the fire. Got it?”

“Got it,” everyone said.

 

“Bucky,” Steve said, once everyone was settling down for the evening. “The dog cannot sleep in the tent with us.”

Bucky, who was already in his sleeping bag, threw a protective arm over Sergeant. “He’s not going to sleep outside!”

Steve groaned. He was pressed all the way to the side of the tent, as Sergeant was sprawled out between him and Bucky. “Why can’t he sleep in the kids’ tent?”

“Because they already have three people in that tent,” Bucky said. “There’s only two of us.”

Steve sighed. Sergeant huffed a sigh.

“Bucky?” Grace called.

Bucky groaned. “What?”

“Nothing,” Grace said. “Just making sure you were there.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Bucky said. “We’re right beside you guys.”

“Okay,” Grace said.

 

“Bucky?” Grace said again a few minutes later.

“Grace!” Rebecca and Ethan said.

Bucky groggily forced his eyes open. “What?”

“I’m scared.”

“Of what?”

“I don’t know,” Grace said. “Mountain lions. Bears.”

“Sergeant will hear it if a bear or a mountain lion comes near us,” Bucky said. “And Steve will fight it off.”

“Mmm,” Steve mumbled.

“Okay,” Grace said.

 

“Bucky?”

Bucky groaned and untangled himself from his sleeping bag. He crawled out of the tent he shared with Steve and unzipped his siblings’ tent.

Grace stared at him as he crawled in. Bucky gently pushed a sleeping Rebecca to the side and crashed down between her and Grace.

“Happy?” he mumbled.

“Yes,” Grace said.

 

Bucky woke up the next morning with a crick in his neck. There was a rock digging into his ribs, and he was pretty sure there was a twig poking into his knee.

“Ugh,” he grunted, sitting up. His siblings were still sound asleep next to him. He crawled out of the tent, blinking as the crisp morning air hit his face.

He had to admit that the camping spot was pretty nice. The stream babbled quietly down below their tents. People moved around the campground slowly, their hair sleep-mussed and their clothes wrinkled.

He quietly unzipped Steve’s tent. Steve was still asleep, curled up with his arm around Sergeant.

By the time everyone else was awake, Bucky had finished making breakfast. Steve gave him a sleepy smile as Bucky handed him his slightly squished peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

 

After breakfast, Grace grabbed Steve’s hand and pulled him and Ethan down to the stream. She claimed to have seen a fish.

Rebecca wandered over to where Bucky was sitting. She sat down in the camping chair next to him.

“You don’t really like camping, do you,” she said.

“Don’t tell Steve,” Bucky said. “But it’s not my favourite thing.”

“Why’d you come then?”

Bucky shrugged. “Because Steve likes it. And I like Steve, so.”

Rebecca curled up in her chair. “Is that what you do when you like someone? Do they stuff they like, even if you don’t?”

“Eh,” Bucky said. “Within reason. I mean, if I _really_ didn’t want to go camping then I wouldn’t have come. Steve doesn’t really like action movies, but he still watches them with me because I like them. You see what I mean?”

“I think so,” Rebecca said.

“Bucky!” Steve called. “There’s actually fish!”

“Do you think I can catch one?” Ethan asked.

“No,” Bucky and Steve said at the same time.

“I definitely can – “ Ethan said. Bucky sighed as Ethan promptly fell into the stream.

“Ugh,” Bucky said. “Camping.”

**Author's Note:**

> Man, I can't believe people are still reading these. But I'm very grateful to each of you that are :)
> 
> I am [here](http://cameronwolfe.tumblr.com)


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